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CHAPTER 7Tinder and I Are Registered at Amazon

Helen Morrison posted the first personal ad in the history of a newspaper in 1727 in the Manchester Weekly Journal. She proclaimed her desire for “a nice gentleman.” It is unclear how her dating life evolved after posting such an ad, but it did get noticed. The mayor of Manchester had her placed into an insane asylum for four weeks upon reading the ad. That is perhaps the ultimate “swipe left.” As time went on, newspapers regularly posted personal ads from those looking for romantic partners of one kind or another. In the 1970s, singles could meet via videocassette dating, where they would go to an office center and be interviewed on camera regarding their life's interests and goals. They would also watch the video recordings of potential matches to see who they might be interested in meeting. If there was a mutual interest, postcards would be sent via mail to both parties to potentially schedule a meeting. That process could take months with mailing back and forth before the first in‐person connection. That is a long buildup to a first date! Historically, there has been a stigma attached to those who posted personal ads or participated in some sort of matchmaking because they were seen as not necessarily being able to attract a romantic partner on their own for some reason. As Moira Weigel, author of Labor of Love: The Invention of Dating, told Atlas Obscura in 2016, “A lot of articles in the late '80s and '90s would say, ‘It's ...